The Weekly Hit List: May 9, 2014

“An email message alert chimes, and you instinctively react. As you click to reply, your phone’s beep alerts you that a text message has arrived. Picking up your phone, a Twitter mention flashes. Who is in charge here?

“A Californian who has only ever owned Apple computers, Detweiler sings the glories of modern technologies, marveling in their design and enjoying the affordances they provide.

“Detweiler strives always to complicate his praise, examining the diverse effects of technologies on our lives in ways both spiritual and practical.”

“iGods are the technological leaders we have set up as our cultural ideals because of their creativity, brilliance, and profitability. And it is also that tendency within ourselves, aided by technology, to build a digital cocoon of our own making.”